Regions Financial Corporation (RF): Today's Featured Banking Winner

Regions Financial Corporation ( RF) pushed the Banking industry higher today making it today's featured banking winner. The industry as a whole closed the day down 0.4%. By the end of trading, Regions Financial Corporation rose 26 cents (4.2%) to $6.66 on heavy volume. Throughout the day, 54.1 million shares of Regions Financial Corporation exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 21 million shares. The stock ranged in a price between $6.53-$6.80 after having opened the day at $6.71 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $6.39. Other companies within the Banking industry that increased today were: Peoples Financial Corporation ( PFBX), up 14%, HMN Financial ( HMNF), up 13.1%, Severn Bancorp ( SVBI), up 9.6%, and Central Federal ( CFBK), up 8.4%.

Regions Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Regions Bank that provides a range of commercial, retail, and mortgage banking services in the United States. Regions Financial Corporation has a market cap of $9.05 billion and is part of the financial sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 53.4, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 48.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday. Currently there are five analysts that rate Regions Financial Corporation a buy, two analysts rate it a sell, and 14 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Regions Financial Corporation as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. However, as a counter to these strengths, we find that we feel that the company's cash flow from its operations has been weak overall.